A video of a girl burning Manusmriti has gone viral on social media. In the video, the girl can be seen cooking meat and burning Manusmriti. In the video, the girl can also be seen lighting a cigarette from the burning Manusmriti. The girl has been identified as Priya Das, a resident of Bihar.
After her video got viral, Priya Das said that the foundation of her action was laid by Babasaheb Ambedkar a long time ago.
As per Priya Das, she has attacked hypocrisy by burning the Manusmriti. She has accused Manumriti of dividing people. “This is just the beginning to make it irrelevant,” she said.
Priya claimed to be a trainee teacher and a political Dalit activist in an interview she gave to Mohammad Kaif of ‘the Activist’ YouTube channel, shortly after the clip went viral.
Priya Das blamed Manusmriti for all social ills. She also claimed that Manusmriti will not exist tomorrow.
She even blamed Yudhishthira, the eldest among the Pandava brothers, for the battle of Mahabharat.
“Yudhishthira, who donned the robe of righteousness and not his wife Draupadi, was responsible for causing Mahabharat,” she opined.
She also expressed her desire to erase Manusmriti from existence and said that it must be rendered irrelevant.
Notably, Manusmriti is attributed to Brahma, the creator, who passes it on to the first human, Manu, who passes it on to the first teacher, Bhrigu, who passes it on to other sages. Since its composition, Manusmriti is seen as the foremost dharma-shastra (Mānava-Dharmaśāstra or Laws of Manu).
Earlier in January 2023, Bihar Education Minister and RJD leader Chandrashekhar on January 11 cultivated a controversy as he said that Ramcharitmanas, a Hindu religious book based on Ramayana, ‘spreads hatred in society’.
Chandrashekhar made the remarks when he was addressing the 15th convocation ceremony of Nalanda Open University (NOU). Phagu Chouhan, Bihar Governor, was also present at the event.
“Ramcharitmanas was opposed because it said that the lower section of society becomes poisonous if they get educated. Books like Ramcharitmanas, Manusmriti and MS Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts created a social divide,” the RJD leader said.
He further said that “A nation becomes great with love and affection. Books like Ramcharitmanas, Manusmriti and Bunch of Thoughts sowed the seeds of hatred and social divide. This is the reason why people burnt Manusmriti and took exception to a portion of Ramcharitmanas, which talks against education for Dalits, backwards and women”.
A verse in Ramcharitmanas, ‘adham jati me vidya paye, bhayatu yatha dudh pilaye’ means ‘Lower caste people become poisonous after getting education like snake becomes after drinking milk’, he claimed.
RSS is spreading hatred in the country. Ambedkar had burnt the Manusmriti because it talks about depriving Dalits of their rights, Bihar Education minister Chandrashekhar further said.
A few weeks back, Bihar RJP president Jagdanand Singh called Ram mandir being built at Ayodhya as ‘Nafrat ki zameen’.
“Ram temple is being built on the land of hatred. Ram cannot be imprisoned in a magnificent palace…We are the people who believe in ‘Hey Ram’ and not ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” the Bihar RJD president said.
